Landlords warned against renting to workers

Abu Dhabi authorities have issued a fresh warning to landlords against letting their apartments and other housing units to workers and vowed to push ahead with random raids to ensure they would comply with the decision.

The Abu Dhabi Municipality said landlords must not rent their units to workers on both an individual or a collective basis and also warned contracting companies that they must find suitable housing for their workers outside the city.

“Landlords who fail to abide by the new rules will be prosecuted…the Municipality  will continue with all firmness its campaigns to eliminate this phenomenon of accommodating workers in residential areas in the city,” it said.

“This decision is intended to ease pressure on utilities, improve the image of the city and strengthen the feeling of public security and safety.”

Monday’s statement was the latest in a series of warnings by the Municipality and other competent government departments to landlords and construction firms to cooperate with a decision to shift all labourers to newly established housing units near Musaffah or to other areas outside Abu Dhabi city.

Experts believe the decision, when fully enforced, would further depress rents in the Capital following a decline of more than 20 per cent over the past 15 months because of recovering supply and the completion of several housing projects.

“This decision means the shift of hundreds of thousands of workers to outside residential areas in Abu Dhabi city…this in turn means the evacuation of thousands of apartments and houses and this will consequently lead to an increase in house supply,” said  Omar Ali Ragheb, Manager of Ramco Real Estate, one of the largest property agents in Abu Dhabi.

Ragheb cited the completion of major housing ventures in Sheikh Khalifa and Sheikh Mohammed cities just at the northern entrance of the capital as well as the imminent completion of some of the buildings on Reem Island.

Developers said 12 high-rise towers with at least 80 apartments each on Reem Island close to the Abu Dhabi coast would be inhabited by the end of 2010.

After all housing projects are completed within five years, Reem will accommodate more than 100,000 people, they said.

“These projects in the outskirts and on islands will largely ease pressure on housing in the city…such projects will offset an expected large increase in demand for housing this year. This means we will see a sort of stability or a  slight fall in rents this year,” Ragheb said.

“Reem is very close to Abu Dhabi and this has turned it into an attractive place to live for both nationals and foreigners. This project along with other housing projects in Musaffah, Al Qurm and Khalifa and Mohammed cities could contribute to halting future rent rises and achieving stability in rents this year,” Ragheb said.

The Higher Corporation for Specialised Economic Zones (HCSEZ), which runs Musaffah and other industrial zones, is overseeing the construction of thousands of houses for workers in those areas, some of which have already been dwelled.

The decision to build those housing villages followed repeated complaints by workers about poor living conditions and unannounced visits by inspectors from Abu Dhabi Municipality and Ministry of Labour to company quarters and stores, which housed thousands of workers, mostly Asians.

Last month, about 15,000 workers were reported to have completed moving to Al Raha Residential Village near Mussafah since the beginning of this year.

The Village’s chief executive Fouad Masha’al said the management has been receiving many requests from companies to accommodate their workers.

The increase in requests follows a three-month deadline set by the Abu Dhabi Municipality in June to move workers in Abu Dhabi to Musaffah villages.

Masha’al said the village is ready to welcome more workers as the village has the capacity to house about 35,000 people, adding that a new housing village would be ready by the end of November.

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